The Moonflower
Thursday 18th & Friday 19th August, 19.00
Boii Theatre
Music: Mario Ferraro
Words: Eva Daníčková
Conductor: Andrew Morley
Director: Maja Milatović-Ovadia
Producer: Berislav Juraic
Video Artist: Mafalda Cruz
Lighting Designer: Ricardo Gomes
Costume Designer: Lucía Conejero Rodilla
Assistant Costume Designer: Mariona Sala de Buen
Lua: Maya Sapone (soprano)
The Spirit of Margaret Mee: Laura Harling (actress)
The Spirit of Chico Mendes: Braz Henrique (actor)
Yara: Rhiannon Llewellyn (soprano)
Yawareté: Georgia Knower (mezzo-soprano)
Mata-Quatro: Oliver Brignall (tenor)
Severino: Simon Lobelson (baritone)
Orchestra
Violin I: Catherine Fox
Violin II: Sarah Crisp
Viola: Frances Higgs
Cello: Thomas Maternik
Double-bass: David P Cousins
Flute/Alto Flute/Piccolo: Helen Wills
Clarinet/Bass Clarinet: Benjie Del Rosario
Piano/Electric Keyboard: Carla Ruaro Pires
Percussion: Glenn Mead
Special Feature:
Fabricio Mattos (guitar)
Chorus of Spirits/People:
Clementine Lovell (soprano)
Alexandra Cassidy (mezzo-soprano)
Stephen Cviic (tenor)
Timothy Connor (baritone)
Searching for a kind of music that could tell of a country, unknown to many, Mario Ferraro found the sounds from his childhood in the interior of Brazil. Libretto inspired by the material from Margaret Mee: In Search of Flowers of the Amazon Forest by Tony Morrison (Nonesuch Expeditions) and The Burning Season by Andrew Revkin.
The Moonflower is a fusion of contemporary opera, theatre, circus and video art, inspired by the lives of two remarkable figures: Margaret Mee, a British botanist and artist explorer, and Chico Mendes, a Brazilian rubber tapper, environmentalist and human rights activist. Margaret and Chico meet as spirits in the afterlife. Their love of the Amazon rainforest inspires a journey full of magic and mysticism, but also of human struggle, love, greed, and above all, the undying nature of the human spirit. Deep in the flooded forest we re-discover the Moonflower, or the Queen of the Night. She opens once in a blue moon and dies with the first morning star. Her life is short but so precious and beautiful it is worth fighting for. The Moonflower is the leitmotif, holding the whole piece together.
Mario Ferraro
www.boiitheatre.com
Hammersmith singer Maya Sapone trades the West End for two nights of letting loose at Riverside Studios during August’s mad laboratory of opera
Fulham Chronicle Preview
Listen to Gary Carpenter and Mario Ferraro talk about opera with a message on Front Row 1 August
Photo: Maya Sapone by Ludovic des Cognets